Serena Williams easily won her eagerly awaited clash with Sloane Stephens at the US Open on Sunday as normal service resumed at the last Grand Slam of year.
Williams was one of four US Open champions that won on Sunday, sending a clear message to the next generation of rising stars that they will have to wait their turn.
The 31-year-old avenged her loss to Stephens at the Australian Open with an emphatic 6-4, 6-1 victory to keep her title defense on course.
Photo: Reuters
“It’s definitely difficult, especially playing people that you like, that you always want to see do well,” Williams said. “You have to go out there and kind of put that to the side and realize, I want to do well myself and take every point as it comes.”
Defending men’s champion Andy Murray and world No. 1 Novak Djokovic also won in straight sets, while 2001 winner Lleyton Hewitt turned back the clock to reach the fourth round for the first time since 2006.
Murray, playing in the middle of a hot and steamy day, needed less than two hours to see off Germany’s Florian Mayer 7-6 (7/2), 6-2, 6-2 and advance to the fourth round.
Djokovic was even more ruthless in his center court night match against Portugal’s Joao Sousa, cruising to a 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 win, while 32-year-old Hewitt wore down Russia’s Evgeny Donskoy 6-3, 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 6-1.
“Obviously when you’ve been to the top you want to keep playing,” said Hewitt, who stunned sixth seed Juan Martin del Potro in the previous round. “The reason you’re playing is for the majors, and for me, Davis Cup as well. That’s the reason I’m still playing.”
The biggest surprise on a day when most results went as expected was the defeat of women’s third seed Agnieszka Radwanska.
The Pole, who had made it to the quarter-finals or better at the three other Grand Slams this year, crumbled to a 6-4, 6-4 defeat by Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova after she had won the first four games of the match.
Makarova is to play China’s Li Na after Asia’s top player accounted for Jelena Jankovic 6-3, 6-0.
Stephens beat Williams in January in the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park to enhance her standing as a future leader of US women’s tennis, but was completely outgunned by a woman bidding to become the oldest to win the US Open since tennis turned professional in 1968.
“Obviously she’s No. 1 in the world for a reason,” said Stephens, 11 years younger than Williams. “I thought she played really well. All in all I thought I competed well and played well. That’s all you can do, really.”
Williams is to play Carla Suarez Navarro in the quarter-finals, the Spaniard having upset Germany’s eighth-seed Angelique Kerber 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/3).
Murray struggled to impose himself on Mayer in the opening set, but once he adapted to the humidity and gusting winds it was all smooth sailing.
“It was tough conditions. It was very, very humid,” Murray said. “I was struggling breathing for most of the match.”
Murray’s opponent in the fourth round is scheduled to be Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin, who beat Italy’s Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-4, 2-6, 3-6, 6-1, with Tomas Berdych looming in the quarter-finals.
Berdych, seeded fifth, made the semi-finals at last year’s US Open and has been in great form at Flushing Meadows this week, reaching the last 16 without dropping a set.
The Czech dispatched Julien Benneteau of France 6-0, 6-3, 6-2 to set up a fourth-round clash with Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka, who defeated Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (1/7), 7-6 (9/7).
Djokovic has yet to lose a set in the tournament and the 26-year-old was never in any danger against the 95th-ranked Sousa.
The 2011 US Open champion faced just two break points on his own serve as he raced to victory in 100 minutes.
“Just doing my job, win in straight sets and spend as less time on court as possible,” he said.
The Serb’s next opponent is Marcel Granollers, one of four Spaniards in the men’s last-16, who knocked the last US men’s player out when he edged wild card Tim Smyczek 6-4, 4-6, 0-6, 6-3, 7-5.
Bob and Mike Bryan did give the US’ men some cheer when they stayed on course to achieve a rare calendar-year Grand Slam in doubles after coming back to beat Canadians Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil 6-7 (1/7), 7-5, 6-2.
The Bryan brothers have already won each of the last four Grand Slam doubles titles, starting with last year’s US Open, but are bidding to claim all four in the same calendar year.
The only men to have achieved the feat were the Australian pair of Ken McGregor and Frank Sedgman in 1951.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB